I'll make this quick. Is there a secret to getting the drums off. I backed the shoes off until the drums turned freely but i can't get em to budge. I've been beating on them all freakin night. The brakes were all redone about a year ago by the guy i bought the car from but he didn't replace the wheel cylinders. As luck would have it, i blew the driver front cylinder the other night. Any help or suggestions. as awlays, thanx a ton Chad
Assuming you have stock wheels, and stock wheel lug bolts holding them on, have you unscrewed the wheel locator peg from the drum? It'll hold the drum on there tight.
It might have been a good idea to remove the locator first. thanx is there an icon with a little dude slapping himself in the forhead. late chad
I can't seem to loosen the wheel locators. Would it be all right to remove the hub nut and take off the hub with the brake drum. Would that just leave the brakes attached to the backing plate and the spindle?
Yes, Judd is right. The front hubs come off with the drums, they are riveted on. If you take the nut off, then the washer- the hub and drum will pull right off. Just make sure you catch the outer wheel bearing before it falls in the dirt. You could put some rags on the ground it catch it if need be. make sure to repack the wheel bearings before reinstalling them. Also check the inner grease seal for the inner wheel bearing, if it looks damaged or really dry replace it also.
Yep, thanx juddand dualquad Freakin amazing how easy it came off. I learn something new everyday with this car. I new the previous owner had put on new shoes, steel and rubber brake lines and the master cylinder, but what a nice suprise to find out he had installed new drums also. Now if he just would have went all the way with new wheel cylinders............. thanx for everyones help chad ps. were do you all get new shoes from? Are chain auto parts store brakes reliable?
New brake shoes can be purchased almost anywhere. As much as I hate to say it, most chain stores carry a good brand such as Wagner, Delco, etc... I would recommend getting riveted shoes as opposed to bonded if availible. These have rivets holding the friction material to the steel shoe which can be easily seen as the rivets are visible from both sides. The bonded shoes will work ok, but I have seen the bond fail and the friction material come loose. (this is not really common however.) The most important thing is just to know the size shoe, such as 12" diameter and 2" width. most of the steel portions are similar, I think there are only about 4 styles there. If the return springs and fastening hardware does not look new, this is a good time to replace it all. Usually a spring kit is less than $20.00. You also could convert to roller bearings with only minor machining of the inner races. This could be done at any time in the future just as easily.
